Street‐vended grilled beef sausages as potential vehicles of bacterial and fungal pathogens: An exploratory survey in Ho, the capital city of the Volta Region of Ghana

Grilled beef sausage is a popular street delicacy in many countries, and Ghana is no exception. This study assessed street‐vended grilled beef sausages as a potential vehicle of microorganisms that present food safety risks to the general public in Ho City. Twenty grilled beef sausages were obtained from various vended locations within Ho municipality by convenient sampling and were analyzed by standard microbiological protocols for food safety followed by statistical analysis with a test of significant difference at p < .05. Total aerobic bacteria count of the potential foodborne pathogens ranged from 2.75 × 10(4) to 1.85 × 10(7) CFU/g. The microbial species identified included Staphylococcus aureus with a load from 6.15 × 10(2) to 1.67 × 10(5) CFU/g, Escherichia coli from 4.2 × 10(2) to 3.9 × 10(4) CFU/g, Bacillus cereus from 3.05 × 10(2) to 7.1 × 10(4) CFU/g, and Salmonella spp. from 2.8 × 10(2) to 5.5 × 10(4) CFU/g. Total fungal counts also ranged from 0.0 to 9.83 × 10(3) CFU/g, and the species identified included Aspergillus spp. and Rhizopus spp. all of which were within the acceptable limits of the International Commission for Microbiological Specification of Foods. However, for total viable bacteria, 75% of the samples were above the acceptable limits in the guidelines by the Ghana Standards Authority, indicating that the consumption of grilled beef sausages poses serious food safety and hygiene risks to consumers. Hygienic processing of the sausages under sanitary environments, proper handling and preservation procedures, and periodic follow‐up visits to the vended areas should be employed to reduce the risk of occurrence of potential pathogens in the products.